Arii 1:6 Lynn Minmay sofubi figure

[SteveTheFish]

 

A little-known aspect of the legacy Macross models from the '80s were the figure kits. Imai made several plastic kits of the figures, but they were not very well-detailed. Tsukuda made a few figure models from that heavy plastic they used (perhaps it was ABS?). Arii made a few sofubi (soft vinyl) kits. Misa in a swimsuit, Hikaru in his flight suit, and at least three Minmay figures; schoolgirl, concert dress (TV), and this DYRL concert dress from the end of the movie. She comes in her iconic pose. At first it seems like a cool kit, but actually it is lacking. First of all, her eyes are too wide and big, resembling the TV version Minmay rather than the older, more mature Minmay from the movie. She doesn't come with earrings, her skirt is too short, and they didn't sculpt any panties.

Fortunately, my good friend in America used to work as a sculptor for McFarlane toys. He gave her better eyes, he made earrings to use with fiber optics to help give them their anti-gravity attached look, and he sculpted some panties on her.

I painted Minmay with V-Color vinyl paints, which are specifically made for such sofubi kits. I also went over her outfit with glow-in-the-dark, fluorescent Blue Steel Arpeggio lacquer paints by Gaia Notes. Minmay's concert dresses glow in the movies, so I wanted to capture that with this figure. I painted her eyes with Tamiya and Mr. Hobby acrylics. For these photos, I've used blacklights to make her dress glow.

You can see a photoset of this build here:

https://stevethefishdotnet.tumblr.com/search/minmay arii

And here is the final reveal on YouTube:

I do not consider this done yet. I have trusses by Plum I have constructed. My plan is to wire it up with concert lighting and have UV LEDs shining on her dress to light her up.